Where's Roger?

[Diane CBPFC]

Sorry you lost your friend Matthew, Vulch 

[Diamond Lil]

A voice from the past....other things have been taking over for a while but I check in every so often and little bro keeps me up to date with the usual insane outpourings.  He and I spoke a short time ago and he said that yet again this little group had supported him.  Irene would be chuffed to know she was centre stage this evening and I can hear the Cointreau on ice being  clinked with those who have gone before her...what a party that will be.

Looking forward to seeing you all for pre-dinner drinks on Christmas Day

[Mince]

What time shall we all get there?

[Joan]

I'm really sorry about the loss of such great friends, Roger, Lil and Vulch.  Another friend of mine lost a close friend this week.  Unfortunately, it was after a long battle, which makes it so much harder for all concerned.

I can relate to what Mel's going through, Malc.  I had a similar experience with my Mum.  It's very difficult when you're so far away.  I do hope her mum pulls through - I feel for her, it's a very nervewracking and emotional time.  Well said, on the rest of your post, except maybe the bit about Aussies being "a little simple".  I don't know where to start on that one! Saw Kathy Lette on TV the other day talking about how Brit's (she really meant southern English) attitude to Aussies had changed since she arrived in the UK. She was hilarious - basically saying that because British society's behaviour has sunk so low, Aussies have gone from being looked upon as having just crawled out of the hold of a convict ship to being quite civilised.


I would definitely be in on pre-Christmas dinner drinks at Roger's if I could - roll on the day when you can fly round the world in a few hours, although goodness only knows what that would do to your head.  I could have Christmas with the family here, jump on the plane, go to Rodger's for drinks and then back to Balerno in time for Christmas dinner with my sister and family.  I'd need a chauffeur as well, though, wouldn't I?

[Malc]

Yes, being able to get to the UK in five, eight or fifteen hours would be brilliant. I'm pretty sure the technology already exists to do it in fifteen hours, but the fuel costs would be prohibitive - the difference between driving up the motorway (UK) doing seventy instead of 200mph.

Is anyone else amazed at the fact we're still building aircraft which crush people in like sardines and burn fossil fuels when the captured alien spacecraft in Area 51 gave us a solid insight into anti gravitational propulsion decades ago?







Just me, then.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

This has indeed been a very strange week, and reading all of the above has hit home quite dramatically. I'm very sorry to hear about your friend, Vult, and Malcolm's words, like Roger's before him, took on an extra poignancy for me, since they were among the first I'd read after returning from a 600 mile round trip to Scotland during the week, after hearing that my mother, also in her mid eighties, had been admitted to hospital after having suffered a stroke (not her first, but the first of this magnitude). Although she has been house-bound for several years now, she has been able to pretty much look after herself, with the watchful eye of my older brother and his wife who live around the corner having to intervene only very occasionally. It now looks like those days are over, and she faces the rest of her days under the constant care of others, something she has always fiercely and stubbornly resisted.

Because of her decline in health over the past few years, my brothers and I have been preparing ourselves for the kind of news we received at the start of this week. We thought it had come in May, but totally unexpectedly, it was our father who had been taken seriously ill, and died the following day, less than an hour before my younger brother and I managed to get to the hospital from our English homes. So this latest news hopefully completes a bugger of a year for us all, and nothing worse is set to follow.

The signs aren't all bad, despite my mother being confined to a hospital bed, nil by mouth, and unable to speak in anything that resembles a coherent sentence. Yesterday, apparently she managed to remove a nasogastric tube (I'm quite frankly astonished they managed to insert it in the first place), attempted to get out of bed, and before I had to leave for home, I'm fairly certain I interpreted her faint mutterings as asking for a fag. Where there's that kind of life, there's hope!

I'm sorry to add to the woes of this already very sad thread. As Roger says, trying to do a 'funny' job in light of such things isn't always easy, and once I'd made sure my Mum wasn't in any immediate danger, I had to race back to my drawing board for a tight weekend deadline. In spite of, or even because of this thread's content, it has actually helped a lot in terms of sharing and humour, so thank you, all!

[Diane CBPFC]

Sorry about your Mum Tarqs – you be careful on the roads as you drive up and down.

[Joan]

I'm sorry too, TT.  My mum resisted strongly too, while she was able, but the time came when she had to go into a nursing home - only for a few weeks in the end.  She was 90, approaching 91. My sister was horrified on arriving one day to learn that Mum had tipped a jug of iced water over one of the nurses.  She apologised profusely, but the nurse just said, "Don't worry, dear. It happens all the time." 

Later on, the nurses asked who "Charlie" was.  Apparently Mum had been saying "My darling Charlie" in her sleep.  My Dad's name was Jim and none of Mum's other "beaus" we know of was called Charlie.  Guess we'll never know.

If they admit to Area 51, Malc, people will start thinking there are aliens amongst us ...

[Diamond Lil]

My thoughts are with everyone here having such a bad week/year.

My bedside tale is when Irene's husband and I arrived for what proved to be her final day.  Her all-singing electric bed was acting up (actually down) and the back rest would suddenly start to sink into the prone position which obviously badly affected Irene's breathing.  After much trouble, the staff got it to stay upright.  A few minutes later, I noticed it on the move again and then spotted Jim fiddling with the remote control...he had recognised it as the same as the one they have at home so couldn't resist trying to adjust it (what is it about men and remotes?) While I'm frantically trying to hold up the back rest manually, the whole bed started to rise up and I thought it would at least save the staff running the few feet to help because Irene was soon to be in their midst at the nursing station.  After much hissing at Jim to leave the thing alone, it finally stopped moving and I sat down again like a naughty schoolgirl trying to look as if nothing had happened.

As for Christmas...we don't eat until about 6.00 so is that all right for everyone?  Should give Joan a bit more time to get over and arrange a chauffeur

[Vulture]

Christmas always seems a little sad, as so many people seem to leave me/us - either because of age and the start of the cold weather, or the season and too much revelling and alcohol! It probably evens out over the year but I tend to remember the Christmas ones more.




I think, in the interests of lowering the carbon footprint (and the outrageous cost of petrol!), we should get Mince to pick us all up, one by one, and bring/take us to Roger's. As he only has a pretend father and an imaginary girlfriend, he'll be lonely this Christmas and it'll make him feel useful! 

[Tom]

You all seem to be going through it at the moment... I'm sorry to hear of your losses.

I'll have to be picked up last, Vulch, as there's a few things I need to do first.

[Malc]

I think it's quicker and easier to say "love and kisses to you all, plus your nearest and dearest, I wish you all that you'd wish yourselves".
Isn't it amazing that the internet sometimes inhibits, a bit like attending church. I wonder if we'd have had the courage to bring all this out if it wasn't for Roger's post (and Peepsie's thread)?

[Vulture]

You all seem to be going through it at the moment... I'm sorry to hear of your losses.

I'll have to be picked up last, Vulch, as there's a few things I need to do first.

Don't tell me, tell Mince. I assume he can do is own itinerary! [maybe!!]

[Vulture]

I think it's quicker and easier to say "love and kisses to you all, plus your nearest and dearest, I wish you all that you'd wish yourselves".
Isn't it amazing that the internet sometimes inhibits, a bit like attending church. I wonder if we'd have had the courage to bring all this out if it wasn't for Roger's post (and Peepsie's thread)?

Probably not. The fact that Roger posted what he did, when he did, brought it home that I was not alone in my sadness.

[The Peepmaster]

This is a sad thread. My thoughts are for all those who are bereaved or suffering sadness.

I'm hoping spirits will be raised by the time we arrive at Roger's pad. I think it would be rude to show up any earlier than mid-day, so perhaps the coach can stop at a nearby pub for an hour or so first.